WOW those 308 models at JSE are a very good deal, I was looking at putting one together a couple years ago and the cheapest I came up with then was $1500 with a 20" barrel, they have an 18" listed but it's out of stock for $1k and a Rock River 26" for $1500

"Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem" Ronald Reagan

Hi Armo ! Armalite308 Here. I love my .308 Special edition 50th Ann model picked it up a few years ago and I would not leave home with out it ! But research it a bit and what ever way is the least expensive and you like it go for it . I like my .308 ! Happy Holidays ! see ya ! Armalite308

The 308 would be my choice and dosn't cost an arm and a leg to buy ammo for, weights in a bit heavy , but hey, what ya going to do. Hell unless you really HAVE TO build your own, you can get a DPMS panther bull bbl ready to rock for <1200. Wildcat calibers are just to spendy to shoot if you want to shoot allot. 308 for me. Plus you can get it at any mom and pop store, try that with 300 blackout or 6.8.

personally i go with a bolt-action for 308 as it is lighter and you don't go through so much expensive ammo so quick + accuracy is very solid even with the cheaper bolt actions.

i kind of like 6.5G in the AR-15 as a do everything well in the small frame AR-15 carbine deal. the cheapest 6.5g is about $13 a box of 20 i don't think your saving much over a 308 except size and weight -might be a little cheaper to build on the small platform--

on of the things about AR-15 and AR 10s is their modular so swapping from one cal to another is a breeze. a 5.56 can swap back and forth with a 7.62x39/5.45x39/6.5G/6.8/.300blackout and so on with the twist of a barrel wrench and the swapping of a bolt so your not really 'married" to any cal like you would be with other semi-automatics.

the ar-10 framed are the same with the 308/243/260 and so on--though the big frames are more expensive to re-barrel -- so you probably won't want to change calibers on a whim like i do with the small framed ar-15s--LOL

As far as I am concerned, this is the best deal going. I have bought from these folks before. There are some issues that I have had, or have seen first hand. JRS got a bad barrel (bad chamber actually), Gas rings (who cares), rough fit in the upper (nothing 100 rds did not fix), and slightly out of spec lower components ( nothing that $15 could not fix, the supplier has always made it right on the first try.)

Yup, that is hard to beat for sure. I may need to do one once I recover from the hoildays, the Mauser I'm getting from bellson and the Buick restoration. I've been wanting one for a bit sense I shot one of my friends 308's a couple years ago. I'll keep those links saved for future refrence, thanks for posting them bellson. Midway has stripped DPMS lowers for 125, ya could save anouther 100 there, there sounding better all the time.